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Maternal
mortality

* Estimated in 1948 and 1949.
†For the second year running none of the deaths in pregnancy or childbirth was due to sepsis ; five of the 13 postabortion
deaths came under the category of 'bortion with sepsis
Summary
tables
Tables summarising the more important of these vital statistics (a) by metropolitan
boroughs and (b) showing the secular trend for the County are to be found on pages 19
and 20.
A new feature of these tables is that they now include adjusted birth and death
rates, i.e., crude rates multiplied by the Registrar General's areal comparability factors
to give (adjusted) rates which are directly comparable with each other and with the
corresponding figures for England and Wales. The adjusted rates roughly standardise
the crude birth rates for the differing proportions of women of child-bearing age in the
populations concerned and the crude death rates for the age/sex structure of the populations
and also, since 1956, for the presence or absence of chronic sickor mental hospitals
in the areas, the deaths from which are assigned to the area of occurrence.
Atmospheric pollution
In Appendix B to my annual report last year an account was given of an investigation
into the effect of atmospheric pollution on health. An examination of four fogs over
the three winters 1954-55 to 1956-57 demonstrated that a critical level of atmospheric
pollution, in relation to its effect on health, was reached when the mean daily concentrations
of smoke and sulphur dioxide in the atmosphere were in the region of
200 milligrams of black suspended matter per 100 cubic metres of air and 40 parts of
sulphur dioxide per 100 million parts of air.*
The fog of December, 1957, attained this level. Figure 3 (page 13) shows the daily
mean concentrations on each of the foggy days 2-6 December, 1957, and six days on
each side of them, with, for comparison, similar figures for the fog of 3-7 January, 1956;
the days shaded include both those on which the mean concentrations exceeded the
level chosen and those days immediately surrounding them on which there was any
mention of fog in the meteorological reports of Kew Observatory. The highest and
lowest temperatures recorded at Kew Observatory over the same periods are also shown.
* The mean daily levels were computed by averaging the readings of the seven volumetric stations shown on page 195
of last year's report.
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